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Official: AC Milan vs. Udinese starting XIs – two strikers and no Theo

By Oliver Fisher -

AC Milan head coach Stefano Pioli has indeed decided to change system for tonight’s game against Udinese, opting to go with two strikers for the first time this season.

There had been reports over the past 48 hours suggesting that Pioli might opt to move away from the 4-3-3 given the absence of both of his preferred right wingers, and he has made the alteration.

Mike Maignan remains in goal with Davide Calabria, Malick Thiaw, Fikayo Tomori and Alessandro Florenzi as the back four. Theo Hernandez has not been called up, and we await further information as to why.

With four players across the midfield line, Yunus Musah and Rafael Leao are down as wide men on the right and left respectively, while the pairing in central midfield will be Rade Krunic and Tijjani Reijnders.

Up front Olivier Giroud will be assisted by Luka Jovic who is still looking for his first goal since joining the club.

Official Milan XI (4-4-2): Maignan; Calabria, Thiaw, Florenzi, Hernandez; Musah, Krunic, Reijnders, Leao; Jovic, Giroud.

Bench: Mirante, Nava, Adli, Loftus-Cheek, Okafor, Romero, Pobega, Jimenez, Simic, Bartesaghi.

Official Udinese XI (3-5-2): Silvestri; Kabasele, Bijol, Perez; Ebosele, Samardzic, Walace, Payero, Zemura; Pereyra, Success.

Bench: Okoye, Padelli, Masina, Lovric, Guessand, Zarraga, Quina, Kamara, Ferreira, Akè, Tikvic, Lucca, Camara, Thauvin, Pafundi.

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Tags AC Milan Milan-Udinese

82 Comments

  1. theo not called up but still in the starting eleven 😀

    Not to completely disregard udinese as a team but i have a feeling we will win big today so 5-1 for milan 🙂

    2. I want Pioli to be sack.. I pray for Milan to lose today and next match also.. please for the good for our team.. please tell me how many pass Troy of Milan make.. Krunic

          1. yeah It goes completely against our purpose of being fans/supporters of the club.

            I do get the notion of david though because he propably believes its proactive but i deffently see us losiing as reactive regardless whether i agree with every choice of pioli or those players he decides to field.

            I wouldnt mind though that i was allowed down the locker room with a cattle prod as that should make them work harder 😀

  2. Udinese are not doing good, it’s time to show what we are capable off. Let’s try and win big with a 3-0 victory over them and take this momentum against PSG.
    Forza Milan 🟠⚫️🟠⚫️🟠⚫️

    1. This is precisely why I think we’re headed for a draw, if not worse. We’re just the team that a team like Udinese will take points from. They are due. And what’s this stupid 4-4-2? Another Pioli tactical experiment. Leao LOWER on the left side? He’s going to be jogging around like a lost puppy. Also, why not pair Okafor with Giroud? Or rest Giroud and pair Okafor with Jovic? Why Giroud AND Jovic? If Udinese is so bad, why not give Romero a run out in the 4-3-3 and not switch formation? I’m not confident.

      1. It is a dumb lineup, mostly because it doesn’t even involve resting players like Reijnders, Leao, Giroud.

        We had better see Simic or Bartesaghi come on at some stage in the centre back position. If not we will be in the same situation as last weekend, dropping them into some huge game with no experience under their belt!

  9. What crap am I watching?
    Terrible team and lineup and a bunch of fairies rolling around on the ground.
    Udinese had the best chance, they’ll probably win.

  12. Where are the Pioli worshippers now? That was terrible, great tactics….

    Krunic is SO bad, backwards pass every single time. Oh, and great header lolll

    Udinese has 0 wins this year

      2. Spot on. That’s the thing I forgot to add too. He’s overworked like Tomori and Theo. But his form also hasn’t been good

  14. You could see that reijnders is tired as fu*k.. giroud and jovic had no understanding. Both static.. krunic can’t pass. Just play the ball side to side.. no run into the channels. Man.. pioli can’t coach.
    If one if you said “oh but pioli gave scudetto and get into semifinals” .. shut the f up!! Its because of the players brilliant moment, not his tactics

  15. Absolute shocking performance. No energy, no ideas, no desire. Just a bunch of lazy, useless prima-donna’s.
    Somebody in management (used to be Maldini) needs to give a dressing down to the coaching team and players.
    I think they need to go in Retiro

  17. Milan is clearly more talented than Udinese, so when there is a performance like this, it’s
    100% on the manager. He’s so stupid

  20. Our 433 is bad enough but this 442 abomination is just horrible. Okafor for Jovic and Adli for Krunic, put Musah back to midfield and play 433.

  21. Glad to see Okafur and Adli coming in. I expect this to see us 3-0 at end of the game.

    I think we know what we have in Jovic now and Krunic doesn’t look right after the injury yet.

    Forza Milan!

      1. Yep. Got my fingers crossed.

        Honestly we seem to be waiting for them to get set defensively. No quick passes. No movement.

        2-1 (hope eternal)

        Forza Milan

      1. The penalty was harsh. Adli hardly touched him. But other than that Adli is no doubt better then Krunic and also younger with space for growth. Krunic is the finished product.

          1. It wasn’t very clear if he step on him or not from the replay. And Udine player already lost control of the ball prior to that. So that’s why it was a harsh decision.

        2. Sorry buddy it might be somewhat harsh but Adli caught him…there was an angle which showed it from the side. Even if you look at it from a momentum perspective it goes against Adli. He’s coming into the player a d the ball goes straight rather than the direction of the tackle. So yea he caught him

    2. Passing wasn’t the question. Defending was
      He gave up the ball in the outfield prior to the pen and then foul in the box on the penalty 🤷‍♂️

    1. Please, man, I am already close to another mental breakdown here. I don’t even want to argue with you here, but explain to me how is this even Pioli’s fault when the one who gave away the penalty was Adli??????

      1. Are you serious? I don’t know maybe going 4 4 2 and having the worst half against a team that hasn’t won a game. It’s time to wake up. When’s the last good game we’ve had. Udinese who’s in last place is beating us.

        1. How about the high line he wants to play with a 4 4 2 that leaves counters constantly. If udinese were a better team it could have been 0-2 at half. His tactics are getting worse and players are giving up on him.

      2. Maybe because we shouldn’t be 0-0 in the 70th minute at home against a team that hasn’t won in 15 games???? I can see the Pioli apologists are already coming out. “It was the penalty! The cheap penalty!”

  29. This is so bad that it is unwatchable. Can’t string a pass together and that terrible ball control… What is Pioli even doing in tranning.

  31. whenever milan is been aweful and well beaten even by a mediocre team like udinese, i will always comment to remind everyone of what i said in preseason when we were loosing everymatch and was calling and shouting that this manager is a scam….many people here criticize and called me all sort of name and said, its only just preseason and that the aim is to get some minutes….i believe the guys still need some minute even after 11 rounds….when they are fully fit…pls let me know…you all pioli fan boy football novice…

  32. PSG is going to annihilate us and then hopefully that’s the end of Pioli.

    SMH, the second the commentators mentioned that Udinese hadn’t won I knew we were going to throw this away.

  34. when juve was winning, inter was winning, madrid was winning and even barcellona….i said why is pioli loosing all preseason game…..the football professors here put on their tactical glass on and said its nothing…..now its you all calling for him to be sacked…..enjoy the loss while it lasted….🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

  38. Scandalous performance sums it up pretty well.

    I wont ask for piolis head but todays performance at the bare minimum makes it a reasonable question whether he should continue or not but the same pretty much goes for the entire squad as well as this is propably the worst and most lethargic performance i can remember for a long time as there was no grit or anything positive to mention at all tonight.
    Everyone should be ashamed and quite frankly i miss the 80ies and 90ies where supporters would trash players cars if they didnt prove worthy of the club badges.
    Tonight a big middlefinger from me to them all.

      1. 😀 yeah im a bit grumpy at the moment

        Not to align our loss with fiorentina getting relegated but back then the players cars was trashed by the supporters 😛

        Anyways i think ill rather drink my sorrows away 😀

        1. Same here bro but I have the flu….I have a feeling I’ll get a second chance to drink away my sorrows on Tuesday lol 😂

  39. I just want a top manager at this club, we have gone with these makeshift managers now for 12-13 years. Can we please get one and start shaping a identity so that we the fans know what team we are watching.

    Poili’s teams change attitude faster than I change underwear. Every match we are trying something different and the players don’t look in sync.

    Get someone in who have a plan and the ability to shape a strong identity and maybe we will start seeing some synchronized plays.

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